The first time it happens, it’s the middle of the night.
Leia is fussy, not wanting to sleep. The Force is singing tonight, echoes of a far-off battle, Anakin thinks. Leia hates sleeping when interesting things are going on, so he’s roused by her  fussing first. He slips out of bed, leaving Padme sprawled on Obi-wans chest, and he shushes the tiny girl by giving her a finger to gum on, her big brown eyes content to stare up at him as he fixes himself a snack, and her a bottle. Luke will be up soon, because these two always do things by the pair.
He’s reaching over to the stove when Leia gets a fistfull of his hair, fallen out of its messy sleeping bun. He hasn’t had the time to cut it the way he likes, and Padme likes it longer on him. She likes yanking on it when he’ got his face pressed to the core of her, if nothing else.
“Sweetheart, I know it’s dangly, but you can’t keep that.” he grumbles, trying to juggle the baby and the bottle at the same time, while prying his hair out of her fist. She’s got a good grip on it though and he sighs, resigning himself to getting it back later, after he’s distracted her with the bottle.
He nearly leaps to the ceiling when he feels soft hands on his shoulders, he’d been so wrapped up in his little girl. Padme is there, smiling gently and Luke is in the baby-nest-basket that Shmi had woven for them. Leia goes into the crook of his arm as Padme pries long hair out of baby fingers.
“It’s getting a lot longer.” she hums quietly, almost a whisper. “Here.” and he pauses as she gathers it up, soft curls weaving together under her practiced hands. It ends up being a very tight, neat braid against the back of his neck, a heavy rope that she ties off with his elastic, patting it.
He doesn’t resist the urge to reach up and pull her into a kiss, grinning like the lovesick fool he is.
“Thank you.” he mutters to her, voice a soft rumble in his chest. “The other one is in the warmer?” he offers, and is gratified when she has the bottle in hand, Luke just starting to fuss. It’s not a lot, more just nutrient-rich water, but the babies need the hydration on the desert world. She sits alongside him, her feet in his lap, and he’s quite content to share the ghost watch with her.
They go to bed half an hour later, Luke and Leia twined around each other like the cords of a single strand of yarn, woven and interwoven, countering spirals winding them tighter against each other. Padme sprawls on Obi-wan again, the older man grumbling and getting comfortable again. Anakin slides behind her, throwing his human arm over her to rest on Obi Wans chest, feeling his heartbeat under warm fingers.
It’s everything he’s ever wanted, and Anakin is so thankful that the Force has gifted him this little family.
